Wireless entity tracking and protection

ABSTRACT

A method for tracking an entity is disclosed. In one embodiment, a plurality of messages conveying an identification of an entity are received using a wireless identification component. A geographic location of the wireless identification component is determined by a position determining component wherein the geographic location describes a respective geographic location of the wireless identification component when each of the plurality of messages is received. A geographic position of the entity is determined based upon a known spatial relationship between the position determining component and the wireless identification component.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/899,361, filed May 21, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/669,365, filed Nov. 5, 2012, the entiredisclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/899,361 claims priority toU.S. Provisional Application No. 61/650,433, filed May 22, 2012 and61/722,057, filed Nov. 2, 2012, the entire disclosures of which areincorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Presently, entities such as people and assets (machines, tools,materials, objects, etc.) are not often tracked on a construction sites.However, in some limited senses, Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS) location sensing technologies (e.g., GNSS receivers) may be usedto track some assets while other controls such as a Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID) tag may be used in conjunction with an entrycontrol access to track entry or exit of a person and/or asset through acontrol point, such as a gate. Conventionally, however, if tracking ofpeople and/or assets occurs at all, only a single location sensingtechnology such as GPS, Wi-Fi, or RFID appears to be used in isolationfor tracking the tracked entity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part ofthis application, illustrate embodiments of the subject matter, andtogether with the description of embodiments, serve to explain theprinciples of the embodiments of the subject matter. Unless noted, thedrawings referred to in this brief description of drawings should beunderstood as not being drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example multi-modal construction site entitytracking system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a site implementing multi-modal entity trackingin accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example safety and evacuation system formonitoring the location of tracked entities in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for tracking an entity in accordancewith at least one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for tracking an entity in accordancewith at least one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an example computer system on which variousembodiments can be implemented.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example site in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows an example sensor unit in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example GNSS receiver used in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 10 shows detection of a tracked entity in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a method for tracking an entity in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 12A shows an example map generated in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 12B shows an example map generated in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 13 shows an example pipeline, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 14 shows an example map generated in accordance with variousembodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the subjectmatter will be described in conjunction with these embodiments, it willbe understood that they are not intended to limit the subject matter tothese embodiments. On the contrary, the subject matter described hereinis intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, whichmay be included within the spirit and scope as defined by the appendedclaims. In some embodiments, all or portions of the electronic computingdevices, units, and components described herein are implemented inhardware, a combination of hardware and firmware, a combination ofhardware and computer-executable instructions, or the like. Furthermore,in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the subject matter.However, some embodiments may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, objects,and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarilyobscure aspects of the subject matter.

NOTATION AND NOMENCLATURE

Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the followingdiscussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present Descriptionof Embodiments, discussions utilizing terms such as “receiving,”“determining,” “using,” “selectively modulating,” “coupling,”“selectively generating,” “identifying,” “displaying,” or the like,often (but not always) refer to the actions and processes of a computersystem or similar electronic computing device such as, but not limitedto, a display unit and/or a lifting device sensor unit or componentthereof. The electronic computing device manipulates and transforms datarepresented as physical (electronic) quantities within the electroniccomputing device's processors, registers, and/or memories into otherdata similarly represented as physical quantities within the electroniccomputing device's memories, registers and/or other such informationstorage, processing, transmission, or/or display components of theelectronic computing device or other electronic computing device(s). Forthe purpose of the present discussion, the term “free flow” locationsensing refers to the sensing of assets without the active participationof an individual, Such as by using an RFID reader and/or GNSS sensorthat sense the location without a person taking active participation inthe process. Additionally, the term “sensing for secure access” refersto of a person or asset at a secure check point that grants access onlyif proper credentials are presented. For the purpose of the followingdiscussion, the term “reverse RFID” refers to a system that is basedupon mobile RFID readers interactive with stationary RFID tags and usesrelevant information stored on the RFID tags to determine the locationof a tracked entity. The term “forward RFID” refers to a system that isbased on RFID tags placed on mobile tracked entities.

OVERVIEW OF DISCUSSION

The following discussion will begin with a description of an examplemulti-modal entity tracking system in accordance with at least oneembodiment. Discussion continues with a description of exampleapplications enabled by a multi-modal entity tracking system inaccordance with various embodiments follows. Then, a discussion of anexample implementation of an example implementation of a multi-modalentity tracking system in accordance with various embodiments follows.Discussion then turns to a discussion of an example computer systemenvironment upon which embodiments of a multi-modal entity trackingsystem can be implemented. Finally, discussion of methods, systems, anddevices, for tracking an entity, in accordance with various embodiments,will follow.

Example Multi-Modal Entity Tracking System

Herein, multi-modal tracking of tracked entities (people and assets) isdescribed where at least two types of location sensing technology areemployed for locating and tracking entities such as people and/or assetson a construction site as part of a multi-modal construction site entitytracking system (“System”). An overview of this system is depicted bythe multi-modal tracking and display infrastructure (e.g. system 100)shown in FIG. 1. All of the features illustrated in FIG. 1 may not bepresent in every embodiment of the system, and some embodiments mayinclude additional or alternative features other than those illustrated.Other location sensing technologies, which utilize only a single mode,may also be used in conjunction with multi-modal location sensingtechnologies in some embodiments. That is to say, although the systememploys multi-modal location sensing and tracking of some people and/orassets may also track some people and/or assets using only a single modeof location sensing technology. One or more entity tracking databasesare included within or accessed by the system and include variouscharacteristics that are associated with a person or asset. For example,a person may have one or more characteristics such as a name, employer,employee number, type of trade, qualification level within a trade(e.g., apprentice, journeyman, master, or the like), certificationstatus, immigration status, security clearance level, biometric(s),physical description, photograph, assigned supervisor, emergency contactinfo, current tracked location, authorized locations, and history log oflocations, among other characteristics. An asset may have one or morecharacteristics such as asset type, when acquired, history of use,delivery time, service information, physical description, photograph,serial number or other identifying information, current trackedlocation, authorized locations, and history log of locations, amongother characteristics. Additionally, one or more modes of locationsensing technology may be associated with a person or asset such thatwhen a report is received from a mode of location sensing technologythat is assigned to a person or asset, a database entry for the personor asset can be accessed, updated, and reported out if there is someviolation of a rule noted by the system.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example multi-modal construction site entitytracking system 100, in accordance with an embodiment. It is noted thatthe components of system 100 shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented on asingle device, multiple devices, or in a cloud computing environment inaccordance with various embodiments. As described in FIG. 1, the system100 tracks a tracked entity (e.g., tracked entity 101, tracked entity 2(e.g., tracked entity 102 of FIG. 1), tracked entity N (e.g., 103 ofFIG. 1)) via one or more entity identifiers 105 carried by or affixedto, or otherwise in close proximity to the tracked entity 101. An entityidentifier 105 reports to either a tracking data receiver 110 ortransceiver 141 of the multi-modal entity tracker 140. For example,passive entity trackers (RFID tags) may be read by a tracking datareceiver 110 which then conveys a report about the tracked entity 101 tomulti-modal entity tracker 140.

Entity Identifier(s)

A tracked entity 101 may be identified by a multi-mode identification108 (e.g., a card or small device that includes a plurality of wirelesscommunication capabilities such as several RFIDs that operaterespectively on several different frequencies and/or an active RFIDreader for corresponding with RFID tags at known locations on aconstruction site). Such a card/device may include standoffs to separatepassive RFIDs from the body of a person to prevent interference. Bycorresponding with several tags at known locations an active RFID readerused as an entity tracker (e.g., multi-mode ID 108 of FIG. 1) can usetrilateration (by time of flight, signal strength measurement, and/orphase measurement) to ascertain its location in three dimensionsrelative to the known locations of the corresponded RFID tags. Amulti-mode ID 108 has many modes of operation which, when registeredwith the system and to the person, can be accessed and read by varioustracking data receivers 110 such as portals that are associated with thesystem 100 (e.g., one RFID read when entering an entry control portalwhich controls overall access to the construction site in general,another different type of RFID for tracking by passive portals within abuilding on the construction site, and an RFID reader for correspondingwith RFID tags located at fixed known location). It is noted that entityidentifiers 105 can implement one or more location sensing technologiesin a single device, or use multiple devices in various embodiments.

Entity associated ID tags 109 are additional RFID tags associated with atracked entity 101, and with respect to a person, for example, may beaffixed to safety equipment such as a fall harness, reflective vest,hard hat, ear protection, eye protection, safety shoes, tool(s) or thelike. Similarly, the person may carry a dedicated GNSS location sensingtechnology or electronic device (e.g., smart phone) running a GNSSlocation sensing application; either or both of which report sensedlocation information to the system when in adequate view of GNSSsignals. Active devices such as a dedicated GNSS tracking device 106 anda GNSS Enabled Device 107 running a tracking application may reportdirectly to multi-modal entity tracker 140 or report through a wired orwireless communication with a tracking data receiver 110 (e.g., a WIFIrouter). In at least one embodiment, the data stored on entityidentifiers 105 is encoded according to a security algorithm. In oneembodiment, a multi-mode identification 108 utilizes, for example, asecure RFID medium and an unsecure RFID medium in the same package. Thesecure RFID medium is used for secure access to areas which use securitysensing technologies to restrict access while the unsecure RFID mediumis used for tracking tracked entity 101 in unsecure areas. It is furthernoted that RFID tags used as entity associated tags 109, or some otheraspect of an entity identifier 105, can be embedded in a suitable formfactor for workers in particular environments in accordance with variousembodiments. For example, an RFID tag may be embedded in clothingarticles such as badges, lanyards, hard hats, arm pouches, shoulderpads, etc. in accordance with various embodiments.

Tracking Data Receiver(s)

Some types of tracking data receivers 110 include one or more readertechnologies for interacting with one or more location sensingtechnologies that may be carried by or affixed to an entity such astracked entity 101. These reader technologies can interrogate theselocation sensing technologies (i.e., read one or more RFID tags) and/orbe interrogated by the location sensing technology (such as if an RFIDreader is coupled with an asset). Tracking data receivers 110 may be inthe form of entry control portals 112 and passive tracking portals 113.Fixed location tracking data receivers 110 in the form of entry controlportals 112 may be disposed at locations which are choke points andwhich may also include physically obstructive traffic control devices(e.g., turnstiles or lockable doors/gates). Fixed location trackingcontrol portals 113 may simply be readers located at points where peopleand assets are required to freely pass through (e.g., doorways,stairwells, hallways) as they proceed from one area of a site/buildinginto another. These portals interact with the location sensingtechnology carried by or affixed to an entity such as tracked entity 101and report the interactions through a transceiver to a central datacollection, management, and control portion of the system which is shownin FIG. 1 as multi-modal entity tracker 140. These portals, as well ascollection point (s) 111 and passive tracking portal (s) 113, may alsoutilize other sensing technologies including, but not limited tocameras, infra-red cameras, 3-D scanners, motion sensors, dooropen/closed sensors, optical sensors, biometric sensors, etc. For thesake of the present discussion, the term “free-flow location sensing” isdirected to a sensing technology in which tracked entities (101, 102,103, etc.) are detected without the necessity of any interaction orintervention by the tracked entity (101, 102, 103, etc.). Non-fixedtracking data receivers include dedicated GNSS tracking devices 106and/or GNSS enabled devices 107 (e.g., a smart phone) that run atracking application which is enabled to operate and report locationinformation to the system 100 at least when within a geofence associatedwith the construction site. Other types of tracking data receivers 110include collection points which may be located or set up at emergencyassembly collection points, which may or may not be a fixed location,and wired or wireless communications such as WIFE routers. In someembodiment, a mobile reader 115 can be used to identify a tracked entity101 at an emergency assembly point or other location. For example, themobile reader 115 can be a handheld device such as a barcode scanner,magnetic stripe reader, or RFID reader that is used at an entry, exit,and/or emergency assembly collection point of a site.

In one example, various access controls are utilized with portals. Forexample an entry control portal 112 for a site may wirelessly read aperson's ID, take an image of the person, and also require input ofbiometric information (e.g., a fingerprint scan) to permit initialaccess to the site through a turnstile. For the purpose of the followingdiscussion, the term “secure access location sensing technology” refersto a sensing technology in which a tracked entity 101 actively interactswith the system to positively identify the tracked entity 101. Forexample, swiping a magnetic identification card, entering a passcode, orproviding biometric information comprise non-limiting examples of secureaccess location sensing technology used in accordance with variousembodiments. Passive tracking portals 113 may then track the personthroughout other portions of the site. Upon exit from the site, similarprotocols as required for entry may be required to positively ensureidentification of the person as the depart the site.

Multi-Modal Entity Tracker

The multi-modal entity tracker 140 may include one or more transceivers141 for communication with one or more tracking data receivers 110,which may operate on differing types of communication that can bewireline or wireless (e.g., wired/wireless communication(s) 114). Thus,a tracked entity 101 that includes multiple modes of entity identifiers105 may be tracked based on a plurality of the modes that get reportedto the multi-modal entity tracker 140. Based on a particular location ofa tracking data receiver 110, which is located at a known or knowablelocation, a location determiner 142 associates a location with a reportreceived from a tracking data receiver 110. The known or knowablelocation may be a latitude/longitude (and possibly elevation), may bereferenced to a local coordinate system, and/or may be associated withregions or locations on a site map and/or building information asseveral non-limiting examples. A known location is determined in advanceor at time of installation of a tracking data receiver 110, while aknowable location is one that may be determined after installation, suchas via trilateration from other known locations (e.g., withtrilateration from signals of other portions of system 100 that arelocated in known locations) or via GNSS signals received by the trackingdata receiver 110. The determined location associated with a trackedentity 101 can be stored within a location storage 143 (e.g., memory,disk storage, or the like) for later access and/or in conjunction withan entry in an entity tracking database/system 144 which may be linkedwith or integrated with an enterprise resource planning system, humanresources management system and/or other database/system. Rulesassociated with a tracked entity 101 for which a report is received canthen be applied (e.g., send a report if this entity is in a locationthat it is restricted from being in). A report generator 146 can accessthe location storage 143 and the entity tracking databases 144 toautomatically generate reports 151 and/or generate user-specifiedreports 152 upon user interaction with a user-interface 147 that isprovided by the multi-modal entity tracker 140. The report generator 146may also populate or update a dashboard 156 or other monitoring displayor graphical representation 155 with a graphical image used or accessedby a person such as a site manager, foreman, or security guard, amongothers. The report generator 146 may also push notifications 154 such asemail message, pages, faxes, and/or text messages to pre-selecteddevices. Reports (e.g., automated reports 151 and userrequested/generated reports 152) and notifications 154 may be based oncontrol/logic rules that are configured via the user interface 147.Based on the control logic/rules, the device controller 148 may controloperation of one or more devices in response to a location reportedregarding a tracked entity 101. For example, positive feedback (i.e.,green light, pleasant tone, door/gate/turnstile being unlocked/remainingunlocked, image/video recording initiated, biometric device beingenabled) may be initiated by the device controller 148 through controlof a controlled device (e.g., colored light, annunciator, lock, gatecontrol, turnstile control, biometric identification device, camera,microphone) as an authorized entity (e.g., tracked entity 101) traversesa portal while negative feedback (e.g., red light, warning klaxon,door/gate/turnstile being locked/not unlocked, image/video recordinginitiated, biometric device being enabled) may be initiated by thedevice controller 148 through control of a controlled device when anunauthorized entity traverses or attempts to traverse a portal.

It is appreciated that all or portions of the multi-modal entity tracker140 may be resident on a site or in a building being monitored orlocated remotely from a site or building being monitored.

User Data Outputs

User data outputs 150 from the multi-modal entity tracker 140 includeautomated reports 151, notifications 154, user requested/generatedreports 152, 2-D and 3-D tracking models 153 that show current and/orhistorical tracked location information and may filter by any of avariety of characteristics such as a certain location on theconstruction site, certain trade, certain time period, etc. Otheroutputs can include information used to drive a dashboard 156 or adisplay on an electronic device (e.g., graphical representation(s) 155).In one embodiment, the data output to external data sources 130 can befiltered by multi-modal entity tracker 140 to, for example, only displaythe location of a single tracked entity 101 such as a person or piece ofequipment. Other filtering applied by multi-modal entity tracker 140 canresult in only a particular area of interest being displayed, or aparticular class of tracked entities 101 (e.g., only people, tools,diagnostic equipment, etc.) being displayed. In another embodiment, thelocations of tracked entities 101 are monitored to facilitate findingthe tracked entities for later use. For example, the location at which aparticular material is stored can be recorded and monitored using system100. A worker who needs to use that material can be directed to thelocation at which it is located so that the worker does not have to losetime searching for the material. In another example, a user may need aparticular tool and can be directed to where the tool is located so thattime is not lost locating the equipment needed for a particular task.

External Data Sources

The multi-modal entity tracker 140 may communicate with provideinformation to and receive information from one or more external datasources and/or applications 130, such as, but not limited to, a BuildingInformation Model (BIM) 131, a construction site model 132, an as builtconstruction site model, a project management application (e.g., foraccess to material lists, worker schedules, and the like) 133,two-dimensional and three-dimensional maps or aerial images 134, andcomputer assisted drafting models and/or programs 135. For example, amap, or BIM 131, construction site model 132 (e.g., an as builtconstruction site model), or CAD diagram 135 of a site or building maybe populated with tracked entity (e.g., tracked entity 101) locations.Project management information, such as a schedule of constructionevents, may be used to automatically apply restrictions based on tradeskill to certain regions of a site or building.

Controlled Devices

Controlled devices may include, but are not limited to, devices such asremotely controllable locks, cameras, microphones, localized feedbackdevices (lights, annunciators), microphones, controllable turnstiles,controllable gates, controllable biometric identification devices(finger print scanners, facial recognition scanners, voice recognitionscanners), and the like.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example site 200 in accordance with anembodiment. In FIG. 2, site 200 comprises a perimeter 201 with aplurality of sensors (e.g., 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F)disposed at various locations of perimeter 201. In accordance with oneor more embodiments, sensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F areconfigured to detect a tracked entity 101 using any of the technologiesdescribed above with reference to FIG. 1 including, but not limited to,ultra high-frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID),high-frequency (HF) RFID, near field communication (NFC), magneticstripe, low-frequency (LF) RFID, barcode, quick response (QR) code, andGNSS position determination systems. In one embodiment, a long-rangeRFID medium is used to facilitate multi-modal entity tracker 140 indetermining the location of a person in three dimensions. For thepurpose of illustration, sensor 205D is located at a designatedcollection point for tracked entities in the case of an emergency suchas a fire, earthquake, chemical spill, etc. in which it is desired toevacuate people and other assets at a location to account for alltracked entities.

Also shown in FIG. 2, is a building 210 which utilizes a plurality ofsensors (e.g., 221A, 221B, 221C, 221D, 221E, and 221F) for entitytracking within building 210. It is noted that sensors 221A, 221B, 221C,221D, 221E, and 221F can implement the same sensing technologiesdescribed above with reference to sensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E,and 205F. In one embodiment, tracking system 100 can implement one typeof sensing technology outdoors such as around the perimeter 201 of site200 (e.g., sensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F), and useanother type of sensing technology (e.g., RFID) indoors such as sensors221A, 221B, 221C, 221D, 221E, and 221F. In building 210 are a door 211,a security entrance 212, a stairwell 213, a doorway 214, and a loadingdock entrance 215. In accordance with an embodiment, sensor 221A isdisposed at door 211. For the purpose of illustration only, it isassumed that door 211 is not a secured entrance. In one embodiment,sensor 221A may comprise a passive tracking portal as there is no needfor secured access into building 210 via door 211. However, sensor 221Bcomprises an entry control portal 112 which is configured to identify aparticular person using secure access location sensing technology, asdescribed above, and allow access into room 216. In FIG. 2, sensor 221Cis disposed proximate to stairwell 213 to monitor tracked entities 101such as people or other assets which are going up/down stairs withinbuilding 210. It is noted that additional sensors (not shown) may bedisposed at the other end of stairwell 213, as well to provide bettermonitoring within building 210. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments,sensors can be disposed within elevators or other lifting devices tomonitor and report the location of tracked entities 101. Sensor 221D isdisposed in the room 216 to monitor tracked entities 101 such as peopleand other assets. Sensor 221E is disposed at doorway 214 to monitortracked entities 101 which are moving between room 216 and room 217.Sensor 221F is disposed at loading dock entrance 215 to monitor themovement of tracked entities 101 into/out of room 217 via loading dockentrance 215. It is noted that the number and placement of sensors 205A,205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F as well as sensors 221A, 221B, 221C,221D, 221E, and 221F is for the purpose of illustration only, and thatfewer or greater numbers of these sensors may be used in accordance withvarious embodiments. In one embodiment, sensors 221A, 221C, 221D, 221E,and 221F are passive tracking portals which can monitor the free flow oftracked entities 101 within building 210 without the necessity of userintervention. It is noted that while the above description describesmonitoring the location of tracked entities within a defined perimeter201 (e.g., within site 200), various embodiments are not limited toentity monitoring within a given site alone. For example, vehiclesequipped with a multi-mode identification 108 can use RFID tags andreaders to facilitate monitoring the location of the vehicle within agiven site, and can use a GNSS receiver to facilitate monitoring thelocation of the vehicle outside the given site.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, sensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and205F as well as sensors 221A, 221B, 221C, 221D, 221E, and 221F arecommunicatively coupled with tracking data receiver 110. In oneembodiment, when a tracked entity 101 is detected by one of the sensorsshown in FIG. 2, that event is time stamped (e.g., by the sensor itself,or by tracking data receiver 110). This data is sent to multi-modalentity tracker 140 and facilitates tracking the movement of a trackedentity 101, including the direction of movement, based upon thesuccession of time stamps from the various sensors which detected andmonitored a tracked entity 101.

Example Applications Enabled by a Multi-Modal Entity Tracking System

Safety and Evacuation

Conventionally, in the case of an emergency or evacuation situation, thelocations of personnel on a construction site are unknown. Furthermore,there is no means to know who is inside a building and whether aparticular person has left the building.

In one embodiment, the system 100 tracks which floor and which sectionof a large building a person (e.g., tracked entity 101) is on by virtueof portals (e.g., entry control portals 112) at into/out of each flooror reader gated section of a building and active location technologiescarried by the person (e.g., dedicated GNSS tracking device 106 and/orGNSS enable device running a tracking Application 107). As an example,referring to FIG. 2, tracking data receiver 110 can receive reports fromsensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F which describe when atracked entity 101 has crossed perimeter 201 as well as providing thecurrent location at which that tracked entity 101 is located at site200. Similarly, sensors 221A, 221B, 221C, 221D, 221E, and 221F canprovide this information to tracking data receiver 110 when a trackedentity 101 enters building 210.

The system 100 receives information from tracking data receivers 110and/or GNSS devices (e.g., dedicated GNSS tracking devices 105A and/orGNSS enabled devices running tracking applications 107) and keeps trackof when each person (e.g., tracked entity 101) enters or leaves a flooror controlled section (e.g., rooms 216 and 217 of FIG. 2) of a building(e.g., 210 of FIG. 2) or construction site (e.g., 200 of FIG. 2). In anemergency when a building (e.g., 210 of FIG. 2) or portion of aconstruction site (e.g., 200 of FIG. 2) needs to be evacuated, thetracking data receivers 110 and/or GNSS location sensing technologytrack the exit of people (e.g., tracked entity 101) from each floor,region, or portal controlled section of the building/construction site(e.g., building 210 and site 200 respectively) and report to the system100 so that a responsible person (e.g., a guard) can tell if a building(e.g., 210 of FIG. 2) or evacuated area (e.g., room 216 of FIG. 2) isempty, and if not who is still in the building/area under evacuation andwhere they are located (e.g., where they were last reported as being).In this manner a guard or other responsible person such as a siteforeman can watch an electronic display which counts down people who asthey are exiting from the building (e.g., 210 of FIG. 2) and quickly beprovided with an exception list in an emergency which indicates anypersons still inside of a building (e.g., 210 of FIG. 2) and where theyare located. Thus, each tracked entity 101 can be quickly accounted forand, if they have not yet evacuated the building 210 or site 200, can bemore easily located for evacuation or rescue.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the system 100 comprises one or morecollection points 111 (e.g., sensor 205D of FIG. 2) which are readerstypically located outside of a building and at which persons collect atfollowing an evacuation or other announced emergency. Collection point111 readers may include a backup source of power and/or communication toensure robust functioning in an emergency situation which may take downa primary source of power and/or communication. Readers at a collectionpoint 111 read the entity identification of a person (e.g., trackedentity 101) as the person checks in at the collection point 111. In thisfashion the collection point 111 can produce an electronic evacuationlisting (e.g., 370 of FIG. 3) (which may be displayed, printed, orelectronically accessed/delivered) of people who have checked in at aparticular collection point 111. This evacuation listing 370 replacesand is much faster than the conventional method of yelling out names andmanually checking persons off of a list. Collection points 111 are alsocommunicatively coupled as part of the system 100 and report informationcollected (e.g., via tracking data receiver 110, or directly tomulti-modal entity tracker 140) so that a master list of collectedpeople (e.g., evacuation listing 370) can be created as entityidentifications of the people are wirelessly read at the collectionpoints 111. In one embodiment, evacuation listing 370 comprises a masterlist of checked in persons from all collection points 111 at aconstruction site (e.g., 200 of FIG. 2) can be displayed, printed, orelectronically accessed/delivered (e.g., such as a notification 154 to amanager, foreman, or emergency response unit). The speed of creatingsuch an evacuation list 370 of collected persons also allows forexceptions (e.g., unaccounted for persons at a collection point) to benoted, reported, and dealt with more swiftly. In one embodiment,evacuation listing 370 further comprises an exception report 371 listingpeople or other tracked entities which have not yet checked into acollection point 111.

Among other situations, system 100 is useful in emergencies whichrequire positive accounting of persons. Some non-limiting examplesinclude fires or earthquakes which require evacuation of a building, andtornadoes which require gathering of all persons in a designatedshelter. In one embodiment, a collection point 111 (e.g., sensor 205D ofFIG. 2) may be placed at the entry of a tornado shelter. In someembodiments, the system 100 operates in a safety mode when manuallytriggered by a responsible entity (i.e., a guard, foreman, or manager),or may be automatically engaged in the safety mode in response to anemergency indication such as the pulling of a fire alarm on theconstruction site, occurrence of a power outage, receipt of a tornadowarning, sensing of an earthquake, or the like. In the safety mode, thesystem 100 may automatically begin generating exception reports 371(e.g., listing people who have not left the building and/or collected ata collection point 111) at pre-defined time intervals and then pushingsuch reports to designated location and/or entities. An exception report371, in one embodiment, lists people whose whereabouts are unconfirmed(e.g., were known to have entered a site/building) but who have not beenaffirmatively noted as having left the site/building and/or who have notaffirmatively checked in at a collection point 111. In some embodiment,even if portals (e.g., passive tracking portals 113) do not track that aperson has left building 210 and/or site 200, the person may be noted bythe system 100 to have exited the building 210 if they: a) check in at acollection point ill; and/or b) have their location tracked by anothermode of location sensing technology such as by a dedicated GNSS trackingdevice 105A and/or a GNSS tracking application 107 on an electronicdevice that is carried with or associated with the person (e.g., trackedentity 101) and which reports to the system 100. In such a safety systemthere may be a priority of reports, and the highest priority may beassociated with the person being checked in at a collection point 111.Thus, even if no passive tracking portal 113 (e.g., sensor 221F of FIG.2) or location tracking device/application (e.g., 105A or 107respectively) reported the person as having left a building, or anentity identifier 105 such as a dedicated GNSS device 105A was droppedby the person and continues to report their location as in the building210 or at some other location of site 200, checking in at a collectionpoint 111 will take priority with respect to affirmative tracking of theperson's location.

For safety purposes, each time a person's ID is tracked, tags associatedwith safety equipment or tools associated with the person can also bescanned. This can determine if a person does not have a particular pieceof safety equipment such as a hard hat, where such safety equipment isrequired.

Restricted Areas

In a relatively open construction project, such as prior to partitionsand doors being installed, monitoring the access of restricted areas isall but impossible with conventional technologies.

The system 100 described herein, makes it possible to monitor access torestricted areas to include arrival, presence, and departure ofmonitored various tracked entities 101 such as people and assets(machines, tools, materials, objects). In the most general sense,restricted areas on a construction site are typically areas that aredesignated for access only by persons of a particular trade or level oftraining. Trades are skill sets possessed by one or more workers such asbeing a plumber, electrician, steel worker, framer, dry-wall worker,ceiling tile installer, concrete worker, heating ventilation and airconditioning installer, etc. Conflicts can occur when two trades aretrying to accomplish work in an area simultaneously. For example, bothelectricians and plumbers may need access to the same portions of astructure to install wiring and pipes respectively. If both are tryingto do their work in the same space at the same time they will get in theway of one another, work less efficiently, slow the schedule, andpossibly anger one another. Moreover, sometimes it is required toperform skilled labor in a particular sequence to gain maximumefficiency. For instance, if ceiling tile were installed before wiringwas placed in the ceiling, the tile would have to be removed byelectricians, thus slowing the electricians and possibly damaging thetile. Similar conflicts may occur with various combinations of skilledtrades and work sequencing. By restricting access of a trade to adesignated area, such conflicts can be minimized or eliminated. However,simply saying that such restrictions exist does nothing to effectivelytrack whether they are being abided by and does nothing to enforce therestrictions. Further, the restrictions may change frequently during thecourse of a project as work is completed and may become very specific toeven include experience level restrictions within a trade (e.g., anapprentice electrician may not have access to a certain area where aparticular electrical system needs to be installed, while a journeymanor master electrician will have such access). Such restrictions based onskill level within a trade or the particular type of trade required toperform an item of work may be based on building code regulations, unionrules, contractual conditions, and the like. It is appreciated thataccess can also be restricted for other reasons than for these businessprocess type reasons. For example, access can be restricted to promotesafety. For example, if a fall hazard existed in an area, access couldbe limited only to iron workers. Likewise, access may be restrictedbased on security clearance of workers. For example, an electrician mayrequire a certain level of security clearance to work in a particularpart of a building being built for a government client.

The system 100 described herein allows a site manager or other entity toeasily set and alter restrictions applied to particular floors or zoneswithin floors. The restrictions can then be communicated to the workers.After this, the tracking of access control is then completely automatedand hands off from the perspective of the site manager or other entity.That is, no one needs to be stationed or walking around to check onaccess. Instead, entry to, presence in, and departure from suchrestriction controlled areas is automatically tracked as persons andassets pass through entry control points 112 which include readers fordetecting tracked entities 101. As described, the control points may beplaced at choke points, such as doors, entry control portals 112 maylimit passage to a single person at a time (e.g., a turnstile), maycontrol direction of passage (e.g., turnstile), may limit access (suchas by only unlocking a door once after a person's ID is read and/orbiometrics are verified), and/or may allow persons and assets to freelyflow through (e.g., passive tracking portals 113) while simply readingone or more trackable tags and/or identifications associated with theperson or asset (e.g., multi-mode ID 108 or entity associated tag 109).

Referring again to FIG. 2, any one of, or all of, sensors 221A, 221B,221C, 221D, 221E, and 221F can be configured as an entry control portal112 to track and/or control the entry of workers into particular areasat particular times. Information read at the one or more control pointsby readers is centrally recorded, such as in a database (e.g., entitytracking database 144) and is available for future play back, forexample so that a site manager or foreman can show where people have orhave not been within a building being constructed. In conjunction withbuilding information management BIM 131 software, the locations oftracked persons and assets can be displayed in real time and/or inreplay on an electronic 2D or 3D representation of the building (e.g.,2-D and/or 3-D tracking models 153). Similarly, if a person or asset isnoted by the system 100 as having entered an unauthorized area for thatperson or asset (e.g., a plumber in an electricians space, or parts forplumbing being delivered to a space where electrical work is beingconducted) the system 100 can generate an exception report (e.g.,automated report 151 or notification 154) which can be accessed by anauthorized entity or automatically reported out to one or moredesignated entities (e.g., site manager, general contractor,sub-contractor). This allows almost instant notification andintervention, if required, to remedy a violation of a restricted area.In the event of an incident, collected information that has been storedcan be played back for review. In accordance with at least oneembodiment, BIM model (s) 131, construction site model (s) 132, 2-D and3-D maps/images 134, and CAD model (s) 135 are used to generate 3-Drepresentations of objects, spaces, and people on site 200 of FIG. 2. Inat least one embodiment, different classes of tracked entities, objects,and spaces are color coded to convey characteristics of those trackedentities, objects, and spaces to a user of system 100.

Supervision and Control

Currently General Contractors have no means to verify whether aparticular subcontractor is deploying resources on the job ascontractually obligated.

For example, the report generator 146 of the multi-mode entity tracker140 can generate a morning report (e.g., automated report 151) based ona comparison of tracked entities 101 present on the site at thebeginning of the day as compared to the tracked entities 101 scheduled(such as in project management data 133 of FIG. 1) to be on a site atthe beginning of the day. If, for example, 20 electricians are supposedto be on site at 8 A.M. to begin work, the general contractor can easilytell from such a report if some are missing if the tracked entities 101show only 14 electricians. This can assist the general contractor inintervening early to call a sub-contractor and resolve a schedulingproblem before much work time is lost.

In a similar manner a general contractor can run a report (e.g., a userrequested/generated report 152) which describes how many people of agiven trade were on site during a day, week, month, etc. and the numberof hours that each of these persons of a given trade was on site. Thiscan be then manually or automatically compared with reports ortimesheets provided by a sub-contractor in order to note discrepanciessuch as over or under billing, or not performing to contracted levels.

Equipment, tools, building materials and other objects entering an areaof a site (e.g., a floor of a building) can be automatically tracked bythe system 100 so that it can be positively determined if necessaryequipment, tools, and materials for a particular trade are in an area ata coordinated time when the persons with the skilled trade need suchequipment, tools, and building materials for an assigned task.Additionally, a piece of equipment can be associated with a particularworker and it can be determined whether the worker and piece ofequipment are co-located at a given time based upon, for example,tracking data report (s) 160 indicating that the worker and piece ofequipment are essentially located at the same place. Thus, anotification 154 can be generated if the worker (e.g., tracked entity101 of FIG. 1) and the piece of equipment (e.g., tracked entity 102 ofFIG. 1) are not currently located at the same place. Additionally, asdescribed above, system 100 can be used to determine the direction oftravel of tracked entities such as within building 210 or at site 200 ofFIG. 2. Thus, in one embodiment, if a worker (e.g., tracked entity 101of FIG. 1) is detected moving in one direction, and an associated pieceof equipment (e.g., tracked entity 102 of FIG. 1) is detected moving ina different direction, it may indicate that the piece of equipment isbeing stolen or misused. Thus, multi-modal entity tracker 140 cangenerate a notification 154 to alert a supervisor of this discrepancy.In another embodiment, system 100 can determine whether a worker iswearing required safety equipment in order to enter a dangerous area orperform a particular task. For example, by monitoring whether the worker(e.g., tracked entity 101 of FIG. 1) is wearing a safety harness (e.g.,tracked entity 102 of FIG. 1), multi-modal entity tracker 140 candetermine if the worker is entering a restricted area, or performing aparticular task, with the necessary safety equipment. In one embodiment,entity identifiers 105 can also determine whether a worker has possiblybeen injured by incorporating, for example, a fall-detection sensor or ano-movement sensor in the worker's equipment.

A supervisor can be notified if a person enters an area that they havenot had proper safety training to work within, and/or if the person doesnot have the proper safety equipment to be in a particular area.Similarly, a supervisor can be apprised if a worker enters a site butthere is no immigration paperwork on file for the person. Additionally,a supervisor may use a dashboard type display (e.g., dashboard 165) orvisualization of the site (e.g., 2-D and/or 3-D tracking model 153), orreport request in order to quickly locate the whereabouts of aparticular person on a site. Similarly, if an asset is reported asstolen or missing, a supervisor may use a dashboard type display (e.g.,dashboard 165) or visualization of the site (e.g., 2-D and/or 3-Dtracking model 153), or report request in order to quickly locate thewhereabouts of a particular asset on a site or to determine how/when theasset left the site.

Project Management

Currently General Contractors do not have any means to monitor thepersonnel deployed on a job and use the data for project management andcoordination between tasks and sub-contractors.

Using system 100, graphical play back of historical data (e.g.,graphical representations 155) on a display device can allow for disputeresolution and analysis of workflow, as the tracked information in abuilding and on a construction site can provide almost complete pictureof people and material flow in time and space with respect to aconstruction site. This allows analysis of work flow and workperformance for timeline and efficiency purposes. It also allowscomparison of an actual deployment of personnel and assets with aschedule/plan to determine whether and by how much they actual work andscheduled/planned work agree or differ. This can assist a projectmanager in determining the extent to which a project is on schedule/planor behind and in determining how to rearrange a project schedule if workhas slipped or gotten ahead of schedule.

Similarly, if a project is scheduled to have a certain number ofman-hours for a trade, the hours spent on-site by particular trade canbe tracked and accumulated and compared, using system 100, to scheduledburn rates of such hours to determine if a project is ahead or behindscheduled labor use.

A general contractor can use system 100 to share this information withone or more subcontractors by pushing out selected tracked entity dataand/or by selectively allowing access to tracked entity data.

A general contractor can use a comparison of bid information withautomatically tracked information related to skilled trades to determineif a sub-contractor over or under bid the amount of time it would taketo perform a portion of work.

Personnel and Productivity Metrics

Currently General Contractors do not have any means to record thepersonnel deployed on a job and use the data retroactively for datamining and to improve processes and productivity.

In accordance with one embodiment, the report generator 146 of themulti-mode entity tracker 140 can generate a morning report (e.g.,automated report 151) based on a comparison of tracked entities 101present on the site at the beginning of the day as compared to thetracked entities 101 scheduled (such as in project management data 133of FIG. 1) to be on a site at the beginning of the day. If for example20 electricians are supposed to be on site at 8 A.M. to begin work, thegeneral contractor can easily tell from such a report if some aremissing if the tracked entities shows 20 plumbers and zero electricians.This can assist the general contractor in intervening early to call asub-contractor and resolve a scheduling problem before much work time islost. Similarly, tracked entity data can be utilized to automate timecards for tracked persons, as a complete record of on-site time of atracked entity 101 is maintained.

Tracked entity information may be filtered by various categories (suchas asset type or trade skill) and displayed on a 2D or 3D representation(e.g., 153) of a site and/or played back over time (a fourth dimension)to assist in visualization of work flow and productivity. This canfacilitate evaluating work performance, as a comparison can be made ofthe time recorded for performing a task with some other metric such as aprojected time for performing the task based upon past experience. As aresult, it can be determined whether a task took more time than wasanticipated and, if so, why the task took longer than expected.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, an entity identifier 105 isused to convey other data than just the identity of a tracked asset. Forexample, a tool or other piece of equipment can be configured togenerate usage metrics which can be conveyed via entity identifier 105.For example, if a WIFI router is used as a passive tracking portal 113,additional data can be conveyed to tracking data receiver 110 such asthe amount of time a tool has been operated, the operating parameters ofthat tool during a given time period, or self-diagnostic informationwhich can be used to determine if the tool requires maintenance. Thus,multi-modal entity tracker 140 can generate a report (e.g., automatedreport 151 and/or user requested/generated report 152 which conveys theusage time of an asset, the work performance of that asset, etc. Thisinformation can be used to determine whether equipment is being properlyused, maintained, or if the equipment is wearing out. For example, if ittakes longer than anticipated to drill a hole using a drill (e.g.,tracked entity 102) it may indicate that the drill bit is worn out, orthat the motor of the drill is failing.

Example of Implementation of the Multi-Modal Entity Tracking System

The following discussion describes various aspects of the multi-modaltracking and display infrastructure (e.g., system 100) in accordancewith at least one embodiment. It is noted that the following discussionis not intended to imply that the features described below are mutuallyinterdependent, but rather can be implemented separately and/orconcurrently, or in conjunction with one another.

In one embodiment, when a new worker arrives at a site (e.g., site 200of FIG. 2, that worker will first participate in aregistration/commissioning process. As an example, the worker's pictureis taken and is entered into a database such as entity tracking database144. Relevant personal data of the worker is either pulled up from apreviously stored data record, or is entered on the spot. The worker isthen given a unique RFID card (e.g., entity identifier 105). The RFIDcard comprises a unique electronic code. This code is also printed onentity identifier 105 in human readable form and, optionally, in otherauto-identification technologies such as barcodes, 2-D/3-D barcodes,near field communication technology, GNSS position determinationtechnology, etc. The electronic information on entity identifier 105 mayalso comprise multiple RFID codes such as encrypted codes, low frequencyRFID codes, high-frequency-based RFID codes, ultra-high frequency basedcodes, quick response codes, magnetic swipe codes, etc.

Similarly, assets such as tools, materials, or other equipment can beassociated with their own entity identifier 105 at various points in thesupply chain. For example, materials can be tagged at the point ofmanufacture, at a distribution facility, or upon receipt at site 200.Capital equipment and tools likewise can be tagged at the manufacturer'ssite, at the contractor's site, or at site 200. Fixed readers and/orhandheld readers can be used for tag commissioning. Once personnel andequipment is assigned a unique ID in system 100, specific equipment canbe associated with specific personnel. For example, a particular workermay have a set of personal safety equipment issued such as a hard hatand a safety vest which are associated with that worker in multi-modalentity tracker 140. It is noted that the personal safety equipment, aswell as other equipment assigned to a worker, may have theauto-identification technology embedded within in a suitable formfactor.

Also during the registration process, the worker can enable anapplication on their smart phone, or other device, (e.g., 107 of FIG. 1)that is capable of sensing the location of the smart phone and transmitthat information to multi-modal entity tracker 140 as a backgroundprocess. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the backgroundprocess is restricted to function only within a defined area such aswithin perimeter 201 of FIG. 2 unless configured to operate in a widerarea.

Once the worker has completed the registration process, he is grantedaccess to site 200 by scanning identity identifier 105 at an entrance tosite 200 such as at a turnstile or other barrier. Alternatively, theworkers can freely enter site 200 and a long range RFID reader monitorsthe flow of people onto site 200 and can generate an alert if a persontries to enter the site who is not properly registered. In anotherembodiment, security personnel can scan entity identifiers 105 using,for example, a handheld scanner such as mobile reader 115 and alsoverifying the workers' identities as well. Entity identifiers 105 do notneed to be visible during the scanning, but can be hidden in clothing orother accessories. Upon scanning, the security personnel can see animage of the worker on a handheld screen and can verify that the scannedentity identifier 105 is in fact associated with that worker.

During the workday, the individual worker can access multiple differentspaces. Each space has readers (e.g., passive tracking portals 113)places at its entrances and throughout the space as needed to providebetter coverage of the space. As a worker passes through the spaces,reader antennas scan the entity identifiers 105 of the worker and passthe information on to entity tracking database 144. As a result, acorrect record of the current location of the worker is maintained bymulti-modal entity tracker 140. Because RFID sensors are installed atchoke points such as entrances, they can monitor the flow of people andother assets as they move around site 200 without requiring explicitscanning by users. The use of multiple sensors throughout site 200permit inferring the movement of workers and assets throughout the siteand permit monitoring the location of all assets and personnel at a siteat all times. Furthermore, in both free-flowing and secure accesssensing situations, the co-location and co-movement of assets and peoplecan be inferred. As an example, assets and people sensed at the sametime in the same location can be assumed to be co-located or co-moving.Furthermore, as specific workers can be associated with specific piecesof equipment, multi-modal entity tracker 140 can determine whetherun-authorized personnel are carrying equipment assigned to anotherworker.

Alerts (e.g., notification 154) can be generated when a particularcombination of assets and personnel is determined to be in a particularlocation or zone within a site. For example, certain workers may not beallowed to enter certain work areas of site 200, or to use certain typesof equipment. Alternatively, a particular piece of equipment may not beallowed to be used in a particular area of site 200. In another example,a certain type of material is not suitable for use with a particularpiece of equipment. By monitoring the location of personnel, material,and other assets, multi-modal entity tracker 140 can determine ifrestricted conditions are being violated and generate notification (s)154 to allow preventative action to be taken.

In accordance with one embodiment, entity identifiers 105 can include awired data connection to another processor that is part of the taggedasset. For example, the entity associated tag (e.g., 109) on anexpensive hand power tool may be connected to the tool mainmicro-processor. As the tool is being used, the main processor storesinformation about the usage of the tool, its maintenance work, possiblefailures, and general diagnostics in the RFID memory of the entityidentifier 105. As the entity identifier is being sensed by a reader atsite 200, this information is uploaded through the RFID interface. Fromthe data, it can be inferred how much time the tool was used, when itwas last serviced, if it requires maintenance, if it has a flaw creatinga safety hazard, etc. Some assets may be tagged with other sensor tagsto provide additional information about the state and/or usage of theasset. For example, a tag (e.g., entity identifier 105) on a hand toolmay include a motion sensor, which determines if the tool is beinghandled at any one moment. Upon passing a reader disposed at site 200,the recent log of motion events is up-loaded through the RFID interface.From the data, it can be inferred how much time the tool was used sincethe last RFID read. Thus higher level information can be inferred fromthe raw sensing data which includes, but is not limited to: usage of atool by a person; usage of materials by a worker, usage of a particularmaterial with a particular tool or piece of equipment; amount of timespent on the site by a single worker or population of workers; materialsused on a site by type of material, product codes, suppliers, and othercharacteristics; time spent by personnel and equipment to accomplish aparticular task.

Furthermore, the job performance of a contractor or worker can becompared with another worker/contractor, or against some other metric.For example, in a high-rise construction process most floors are verysimilar in layout and build out. From the sensor data sent tomulti-modal entity tracker 140 it can be inferred how long contractor Aneeded to build out floor X versus how long it took contractor B tobuild out floor Y. It can furthermore be determined how many and whatkind of workers and equipment the respective contractors deployed. Giventhese statistics, the general contractors can select the betterperformer going forward and can issue recommendations to subcontractorsas to how to go about a particular job.

When a worker enters areas where the worker's mobile device (e.g., 107of FIG. 1) has a clear view of the sky, the GNSS tracking application onhis/her mobile device provides the location information to multi-modalentity tracker 140 which creates a record of the work locations atspecific times while within the pre-defined perimeter 201, or within apre-determined geo-fence within site 200. It is possible to alsoassociate GNSS tracking devices (e.g., 106 of FIG. 1) with assets andenable a similar functionality.

In the case of an emergency that requires the evacuation of a buildingor a portion of site 200, the worker will leave the area as quickly aspossible and check in at a pre-designated collection point where his/herentity identifier 105 is scanned or automatically detected. While theevacuation is in process, the security supervisor can check how manyworkers are left in the evacuation zone and follow their progress, inreal-time or near real-time, as the workers progress to exits and/or thecollection point.

When a worker or asset enters the field of view of an RFID reader, thereader can generate a signal to a co-located camera to take a picture ofthe worker or asset, or a short sequence of frames to create a record ofthe action taken which can be stored by multi-modal entity tracker 140.Since the footage is associated with a particular tag which was read,the library of footage can easily be browsed and mined for the completeactions of a particular worker, sub-contractor, or trade, or of aparticular asset.

Based on the recorded location information collected and stored bymulti-modal entity tracker 140, a number of reports on individualworkers can be generated including, but not limited to: work time spentin a particular area by a particular sub-contractor or worker, or bytrade, or by seniority of a worker; access violations by a worker who isonly granted access to specific spaces; comparison of declared andactual work time; identification of congestion in specific areas of asite (e.g., indoors and outdoors); correlation of the location andmovement of people and the location and movement of materials and otherassets; identification of inefficiencies in the building process due tosub-optimal personnel management or material management, etc.

System 100 can be used to create a coverage map of an individualperforming specific tasks in a specific location of a site or building.For example, an inspector is required to inspect work product on allfloors of a building as well as in multiple distinct areas on theoutside of the building. Using system 100, a supervisor can verify thatthe inspector did indeed visit all required areas along with the timewhen the inspection was performed. Likewise, system 100 can confirm thata particular piece of equipment was used to perform the inspection.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for tracking an entity inaccordance with at least one embodiment. In operation 410 of FIG. 4, atracking infrastructure comprising at least one data receiver is used todetect a tracked entity 101 comprising a first asset class using a firstsensing technology and a second sensing technology.

In operation 420 of FIG. 4, a tracking data report is generated by theat least one tracking data receiver conveying a location of the trackedentity 101.

In operation 430 of FIG. 4, the tracking data report is received by amulti-modal entity tracker configured to store the tracking data reportand to receive and store a second tracking data report of a secondtracked entity (e.g., 102, 103, etc.) comprising a second asset classwhich is conveyed via the tracking infrastructure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method 500 of a method for tacking an entityin accordance with at least one embodiment. In operation 510 of FIG. 5,a first reader implementing a first location sensing technology is usedto determine an identity and a location of a tracked entity 101.

In operation 520 of FIG. 5, a second reader implementing a secondlocation sensing technology is used to determine an identity and alocation of the tracked entity 101.

In operation 530 of FIG. 5, a tracking data report is generated by atracking data receiver communicatively coupled with the first reader andthe second reader, the tracking data report conveying the identity andlocation of the tracked entity 101.

In operation 540 of FIG. 5, the tracking data report is received by amulti-modal entity tracker communicatively coupled with the trackingdata receiver, the multi-modal entity tracker configured to store thetracking data report.

Example Computer System Environment

With reference now to FIG. 6, all or portions of some embodimentsdescribed herein are composed of computer-readable andcomputer-executable instructions that reside, for example, incomputer-usable/computer-readable storage media of a computer system.That is, FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a type of computer (computersystem 600) that can be used in accordance with or to implement variousembodiments which are discussed herein. It is appreciated that computersystem 600 of FIG. 6 is only an example and that embodiments asdescribed herein can operate on or within a number of different computersystems including, but not limited to, general purpose networkedcomputer systems, embedded computer systems, server devices, variousintermediate devices/nodes, stand alone computer systems, handheldcomputer systems, multi-media devices, and the like. Computer system 600of FIG. 6 is well adapted to having peripheral computer-readable storagemedia 602 such as, for example, a floppy disk, a compact disc, digitalversatile disc, universal serial bus “thumb” drive, removable memorycard, and the like coupled thereto.

System 600 of FIG. 6 includes an address/data bus 604 for communicatinginformation, and a processor 606A coupled to bus 604 for processinginformation and instructions. As depicted in FIG. 6, system 600 is alsowell suited to a multi-processor environment in which a plurality ofprocessors 606A, 606B, and 606C are present. Conversely, system 600 isalso well suited to having a single processor such as, for example,processor 606A. Processors 606A, 606B, and 606C may be any of varioustypes of microprocessors. System 600 also includes data storage featuressuch as a computer usable volatile memory 608, e.g., random accessmemory (RAM), coupled to bus 604 for storing information andinstructions for processors 606A, 606B, and 606C. System 600 alsoincludes computer usable non-volatile memory 610, e.g., read only memory(ROM), coupled to bus 604 for storing static information andinstructions for processors 606A, 606B, and 606C. Also present in system600 is a data storage unit 612 (e.g., a magnetic or optical disk anddisk drive) coupled to bus 604 for storing information and instructions.System 600 also includes an optional alphanumeric input device 614including alphanumeric and function keys coupled to bus 604 forcommunicating information and command selections to processor 606A orprocessors 606A, 606B, and 606C. System 600 also includes an optionalcursor control device 616 coupled to bus 604 for communicating userinput information and command selections to processor 606A or processors606A, 606B, and 606C. In one embodiment, system 600 also includes anoptional display device 618 coupled to bus 604 for displayinginformation.

Referring still to FIG. 6, optional display device 618 of FIG. 6 may bea liquid crystal device, cathode ray tube, plasma display device orother display device suitable for creating graphic images andalphanumeric characters recognizable to a user. Optional cursor controldevice 616 allows the computer user to dynamically signal the movementof a visible symbol (cursor) on a display screen of display device 618and indicate user selections of selectable items displayed on displaydevice 618. Many implementations of cursor control device 616 are knownin the art including a trackball, mouse, touch pad, joystick or specialkeys on alphanumeric input device 614 capable of signaling movement of agiven direction or manner of displacement. Alternatively, it will beappreciated that a cursor can be directed and/or activated via inputfrom alphanumeric input device 614 using special keys and key sequencecommands. System 600 is also well suited to having a cursor directed byother means such as, for example, voice commands. System 600 alsoincludes an I/O device 620 for coupling system 600 with externalentities. For example, in one embodiment, I/O device 620 is a modem forenabling wired or wireless communications between system 600 and anexternal network such as, but not limited to, the Internet.

Referring still to FIG. 6, various other components are depicted forsystem 600. Specifically, when present, an operating system 622,applications 624, modules 626, and data 628 are shown as typicallyresiding in one or some combination of computer usable volatile memory608 (e.g., RAM), computer usable non-volatile memory 610 (e.g., ROM),and data storage unit 612. In some embodiments, all or portions ofvarious embodiments described herein are stored, for example, as anapplication 624 and/or module 626 in memory locations within RAM 608,computer-readable storage media within data storage unit 612, peripheralcomputer-readable storage media 602, and/or other tangible computerreadable storage media.

Entity Tracking

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example site 700 in accordance with anembodiment. In one embodiment, FIG. 7 represents an equipment storageyard, which may also be referred to as a laydown yard. However, it isnoted that embodiments of the present technology are not limited totracking entities in an outdoor environment, or equipment storage yard,alone. Rather, an equipment storage yard is used to illustrate variousembodiments. In FIG. 7, an equipment storage yard 700 is defined by aperimeter 701. The perimeter of equipment storage yard 700 is monitoredby a plurality of sensors (e.g., 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F)disposed at various locations of perimeter 701. In accordance with oneor more embodiments, sensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F areconfigured to detect a tracked entity 710 using any of the technologiesdescribed above with reference to FIG. 1 including, but not limited to,ultra high-frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID),high-frequency (HF) RFID, near field communication (NFC), magneticstripe, low-frequency (LF) RFID, barcode, quick response (QR) code, andGNSS position determination systems. In FIG. 7, entity 710 is configuredwith an entity identifier 711. In accordance with various embodiments,entity identifier comprises a passive RFID tag which is attached toequipment in equipment storage yard 700. In another embodiment, entityidentifier 711 comprises a battery-assisted RFID tag. In anotherembodiment, entity identifier 711 comprises a near field communication(NFC) tag. In another embodiment entity identifier 711 comprises abarcode. In another embodiment, entity identifier 711 comprises a uniquebiometric that is identifiable at a distance of at least several meters,such as a facial arrangement of a human face. It is noted that theentity tracking can be accomplished using any of the entityidentification technologies described above in accordance with variousembodiments. Entity 710 can be any equipment, person, or article ofinterest. For example, entity 710 can be a vehicle, tool, implement,material, or machine part which is to be monitored, for example, for thepurposes of inventory and loss prevention.

Also shown in FIG. 7 is a handheld sensor unit 720. In accordance withvarious embodiments, handheld sensor unit 720 comprises a handheldelectronic device configured to detect entity identifier 711 usingvarious wireless identification technologies as described above. Again,in one embodiment, handheld sensor unit 720 utilizes an RFID transceiver(e.g., 810 of FIG. 8) which generates a query and receives a queryresponse from RFID tags (e.g., entity identifier 711 of FIG. 7) whichare in communications range. However, in other embodiments, handheldsensor unit 720 may additionally or alternatively be equipped with otherreader technologies such as an optical scanner for barcodes and/orbiometrics and/or a near field communications tag reader. Also shown inFIG. 7 is a vehicle mounted sensor unit 730. As with handheld sensorunit 720, in one embodiment vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 utilizes anRFID transceiver (e.g., 850 of FIG. 8) which generates a query andreceives a query response from RFID tags (e.g., entity identifier 711 ofFIG. 7) which are in communications range. However, in otherembodiments, vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 may additionally oralternatively be equipped with other reader technologies such as anoptical scanner for barcodes and/or biometrics and/or a near fieldcommunications tag reader.

In accordance with one embodiment, the geographic location of sensors205A, 205B, 2050, 205D, 205E, and 205F can be determined and recorded(e.g., in tracking data receiver 110 and/or multi-modal entity tracker140) when the sensors are first put into place. In one embodiment,sensors 205A, 205B, 205C, 205D, 205E, and 205F communicate with trackingdata receiver 110 and/or multi-modal entity tracker 140 via a wiredcommunications link, a wireless communications link, or a hybridcommunications link using both wired and wireless communicationtechnology. In one embodiment, handheld sensor unit 720 and vehiclemounted sensor unit 730 communicate with tracking data receiver 110using a wireless communication link. In another embodiment, handheldsensor unit 720 and/or vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 communicatedirectly with multi-modal entity tracker 140 via a wirelesscommunication link. In accordance with various embodiments, handheldsensor unit 720 and vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 are used to identifyentity 710 and to report its geographic location.

It is appreciated that, in various embodiments, different combinationsand/or subsets of these sensors (205, 720, 730) may be present and/orutilized for entity tracking in an equipment storage yard 700 or otherenvironment. For example, in some embodiments, only handheld sensor unit720, vehicle mounted sensor unit, or sensor(s) 205 may be present and/orutilized for data collection. In other embodiments, in addition tohandheld sensor unit 720 one or more of sensors 205 and/or vehiclemounted sensor unit 730 may be present and/or utilized. In otherembodiments, in addition to vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 one or moreof sensors 205 may be present and/or utilized.

FIG. 8 shows an example sensor unit 800 in accordance with anembodiment. For the purpose of the following discussion, the componentsdescribed below are understood to encompass embodiments of handheldsensor unit 720 and vehicle mounted sensor unit 730. In FIG. 8, sensorunit 800 comprises an RFID transceiver 810 which is coupled with one ormore antennas (e.g., 811A and 811B). In one embodiment, RFID transceiver810 is configured to selectively modulate the effective radiated powerof antennas 811A and 811B. As will be discussed in greater detail below,this facilitates determining the distance from sensor unit 800 andentity 710 in accordance with various embodiments. In FIG. 8, sensorunit 800 further comprises a GNSS receiver 811. In some embodiments,when other sensing technologies are used, such as opticalscanners/readers or near field transceivers, the scanning range may alsobe selectively modulated or focused within the direction of sensing andacross the minimum/maximum sensing range of the utilized sensingtechnology.

In accordance with various embodiments, when sensor unit 800 receives aquery response from entity identifier, such as entity identifier 711, atimestamp of this event is generated, for example, by GNSS receiver 811.Similarly in embodiments utilizing other sensing technologies or acombination of sensing technologies, a timestamp is generated when abarcode or an NFC tag associated with an entity is successfully readand/or when a biometric associated with a person is successfullyidentified. GNSS receiver 811 will also generate a set of coordinates ofsensor unit 800 that is associated with the generated timestamp. As willbe discussed in greater detail below, sensor unit 800 is configured toreceive a plurality of query responses from entity identifier, such asentity identifier 711, which uniquely identifies entity 710. Based uponthis plurality of query responses, sensor unit 800 can determine thedistance to entity 710. Using this information, as well as thegeographic coordinates of sensor unit 800 each time a query response isreceived, the geographic location of entity 710 can be determined. Inaccordance with various embodiments, the processing of data to derivethe geographic location of entity 710 can be performed by sensor unit800, or data (e.g., raw data or processed data) can be sent from sensorunit 800 to another device such as tracking data receiver 710 and/ormulti-modal entity tracker 140 where the geographic location of entity710 can be derived.

In FIG. 8, sensor unit 800 further comprises a processor 813 forprocessing information and instructions, a volatile memory 814 and anon-volatile memory 815 for storing information and instructions forprocessor 813, and a data storage device 816 (e.g., a magnetic oroptical disk and disk drive) for storing information and instructions.It is noted that in accordance with one embodiment, sensor unit 800 isconfigured with a plurality of processors. In FIG. 8, sensor unit 800further comprises a display device 817 for displaying information, andan optional alpha-numeric input device 818 including alphanumeric andfunction keys for communicating information and command selections toprocessor 813. It is noted that in one embodiment, display device 817comprises a touch screen assembly which obviates the necessity foralpha-numeric input device 818. In FIG. 8, sensor unit 800 furthercomprises a wireless communication transceiver 819. In accordance withvarious embodiments, wireless communication transceiver 819 may beconfigured to operate on any suitable wireless communication protocolincluding, but not limited to: WiFi, WiMAX, implementations of the IEEE802.11 specification, cellular, two-way radio, satellite-based cellular(e.g., via the Inmarsat or Iridium communication networks), meshnetworking, implementations of the IEEE 802.15.4 specification forpersonal area networks, and a short range wireless connection operatingin the Instrument Scientific and Medical (ISM) band of the radiofrequency spectrum in the 2400-2484 MHz range (e.g., implementations ofthe Bluetooth® standard). Personal area networks refer to short-range,and often low-data-rate, wireless communications networks. Also shown inFIG. 8 is an optional orientation sensor 820, such as an electroniccompass, which is configured to determine the direction sensor unit 800is pointed in relation to a given reference point.

Referring still to FIG. 8, various other components are depicted forhandheld sensor unit 720. Specifically, when present, an operatingsystem 821, applications 822, modules 823, and data 824 are shown astypically residing in one or some combination of computer usablevolatile memory 814 (e.g., RAM), computer usable non-volatile memory 815(e.g., ROM), and data storage unit 816. In some embodiments, all orportions of various embodiments described herein are stored, forexample, as an application 821 and/or module 823 in memory locationswithin RAM 814, computer-readable storage media within data storage unit816, peripheral computer-readable storage media (not shown), and/orother tangible computer readable storage media.

Example GNSS Receiver

FIG. 9, shows an example GNSS receiver 812 in accordance with oneembodiment. It is appreciated that different types or variations of GNSSreceivers may also be suitable for use in the embodiments describedherein. In some embodiments, a GNSS receiver such as GNSS receiver 900may be coupled with or disposed as a portion of a handheld sensor unit720 and vehicle mounted sensor unit 730.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, received L1 and L2 signals are generated by atleast one GPS satellite. Each GPS satellite generates different signalL1 and L2 signals and they are processed by different digital channelprocessors 952 which operate in the same way as one another. FIG. 9shows GPS signals (L1=1575.42 MHz, L2=1227.60 MHz) entering GNSSreceiver 900 through one or more dual frequency antenna(a) 932.Antenna(s) 932 may be a magnetically mountable model commerciallyavailable from Trimble Navigation of Sunnyvale, Calif. Master oscillator948 provides the reference oscillator which drives all other clocks inthe system. Frequency synthesizer 938 takes the output of masteroscillator 948 and generates important clock and local oscillatorfrequencies used throughout the system. For example, in one embodimentfrequency synthesizer 938 generates several timing signals such as a 1st(local oscillator) signal LO1 at 1400 MHz, a 2nd local oscillator signalLO2 at 175 MHz, an SCLK (sampling clock) signal at 25 MHz, and a MSEC(millisecond) signal used by the system as a measurement of localreference time.

A filter/LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) 934 performs filtering and low noiseamplification of both L1 and L2 signals. The noise figure of GNSSreceiver 900 is dictated by the performance of the filter/LNAcombination. The downconvertor 936 mixes both L1 and L2 signals infrequency down to approximately 175 MHz and outputs the analogue L1 andL2 signals into an IF (intermediate frequency) processor 950. IFprocessor 950 takes the analog L1 and L2 signals at approximately 175MHz and converts them into digitally sampled L1 and L2 inphase (L1 I andL2 I) and quadrature signals (L1 Q and L2 Q) at carrier frequencies 420KHz for L1 and at 2.6 MHz for L2 signals respectively. At least onedigital channel processor 952 inputs the digitally sampled L1 and L2inphase and quadrature signals. All digital channel processors 952 aretypically are identical by design and typically operate on identicalinput samples. Each digital channel processor 952 is designed todigitally track the L1 and L2 signals produced by one satellite bytracking code and carrier signals and to from code and carrier phasemeasurements in conjunction with the microprocessor system 954. Onedigital channel processor 952 is capable of tracking one satellite inboth L1 and L2 channels. Microprocessor system 954 is a general purposecomputing device which facilitates tracking and measurements processes,providing pseudorange and carrier phase measurements for a navigationprocessor 958. In one embodiment, microprocessor system 954 providessignals to control the operation of one or more digital channelprocessors 952. Navigation processor 958 performs the higher levelfunction of combining measurements in such a way as to produce position,velocity and time information for the differential and surveyingfunctions. Storage 960 is coupled with navigation processor 958 andmicroprocessor system 954. It is appreciated that storage 960 maycomprise a volatile or non-volatile storage such as a RAM or ROM, orsome other computer readable memory device or media. In one roverreceiver embodiment, navigation processor 958 performs one or more ofthe methods of position correction.

In some embodiments, microprocessor 954 and/or navigation processor 958receive additional inputs for use in refining position informationdetermined by GNSS receiver 900. In some embodiments, for example,corrections information is received and utilized. By way of non-limitingexample, such corrections information can include differential GPScorrections, RTK corrections, and/or wide area augmentation system(WAAS) corrections.

FIG. 10 shows detection of a tracked entity in accordance with variousembodiments. In FIG. 10, a user operating handheld sensor unit 720detects the presence of entity 710. In one embodiment, RFID transceiver810 of handheld sensor unit 720 performs regular polling to detect RFIDtags and/or other entity identifiers in its vicinity. Thus, by way ofexample and not of limitation, in response to an RFID query, entityidentifier 711 will return a query response to handheld sensor unit 720which is received by an RFID transceiver. Adjusting the effectiveradiated power of an antenna (e.g., 811A of FIG. 8) affects the range atwhich it can communicate with RFID tags. Consider an example where RFIDtransceiver 810 is transmitting a query at 30 millidecibels (dBm) andhandheld sensor unit 720 is able to detect entity identifier 711 at adistance of 3.0 meters, as shown by arc 1010 of FIG. 10. As describedabove, when handheld sensor unit 720 receives a query reply from entityidentifier 711, it will generate a timestamp of that event using eitherof GNSS receiver 812 or processor 813. GNSS receiver 812 will alsoautomatically generate a first geographic position of handheld sensorunit 720 at that time. In a similar fashion, when other sensingtechnologies such as barcode scanners, NFC transceivers, or biometricscanners are additionally or alternatively utilized, timestamps aregenerated in response to detection of associated entity identifiersalong with GNSS positions associates with the respective timestamps.

In accordance with one embodiment, sensor unit 800 (e.g., handheldsensor unit 720 or vehicle mounted sensor unit 730) will then generate asecond query at a lower effective radiated power (e.g., as shown by arc1020 of FIG. 10). Thus, for the purpose of illustration, arc 1020represents the detection range of RFID transceiver 810 when theeffective radiating power has been reduced to 20 dBm. For the purpose ofillustration, arc 1020 extends, for example, 20 meters from handheldsensor unit 720. In accordance with various embodiments, sensor unit 800is configured to generate a timestamp when no query reply is received byRFID transceiver 810 after a first query reply has been received. Thus,by receiving no reply to a second query, handheld sensor unit 720 candetermine that entity identifier 711 is more than 20 meters from itspresent location, and somewhere in the vicinity of 30 meters or lessfrom its present location. In one embodiment, handheld sensor unit 720will incrementally increase the effective radiating power from RFIDtransceiver 810 until a query reply from entity identifier 711 is againreceived. In accordance with various embodiments, the effectiveradiating power from RFID transceiver 810 is dynamically controlled(e.g., by processor 813) without user intervention, Thus, in FIG. 10 theeffective radiating power of RFID transceiver 810 has been raised to,for example, 25 dBm (e.g., arc 1021) and a query reply has again beenreceived from entity identifier 711. Assuming arc 1021 represents aradius of for example 25 meters, handheld sensor unit 720 can determinethat entity 710 is approximately 25 meters from the current geographicposition of handheld sensor unit 720 when the query reply represented byarc 1021 was received. In accordance, the orientation of handheld sensorunit 720 can be used to further increase the precision of determiningthe geographic position of entity 710. For example, the radiationpattern of antenna 811A typically has a main lobe which exhibits thegreatest field strength. In accordance with various embodiments,knowledge of the axis of this main lobe and where it is pointed, usingfor example orientation sensor 820, facilitates determining the locationof entity 710 with greater precision. As discussed above, in accordancewith various embodiments, GNSS receiver 812 comprises a high-precisionGNSS receiver which can utilize corrections data such as differentialGPS corrections, RTK corrections, and/or wide area augmentation system(WAAS) corrections to determine the geographic position of handheldsensor unit 720 with sub-meter precision. It is noted that a query replyfrom entity identifier 711 may comprise a variety of information suchas, but not limited to, a unique identification sequence, a name of anentity, a description of an entity, a status of an entity, or otherusable information.

In another embodiment, vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 is disposed on avehicle driving along path 1090. In accordance with various embodiments,vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 can be mounted upon any type of vehiclewhich is used in, or near, equipment storage yard 700 and is not limitedto data collection vehicles alone. In one embodiment, antennas 811A and811B are disposed upon opposite sides of a vehicle (e.g., left and rightsides) and the signals to and from RFID transceiver 810 are multiplexedto antennas 811A and 811B. In one embodiment, an indication of whichantenna (e.g., either 811A or 811B) is included with the query replyfrom entity identifier 711. In some embodiments, it is appreciated thata vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 may utilize only a single antenna 811or more than two antennas 811. Other sensing technologies describedherein may be similarly directed and/or multiplexed when collectingdata.

Additionally, the direction in which antennas 811A and 811B are pointedcan be inferred using, for example, orientation sensor 820. In anotherembodiment, the heading of a vehicle as it moves along path 1090 can beinferred by successive GNSS position measurements such as at T₁ and T₃shown in FIG. 10. In another embodiment, GNSS receiver 812 can becoupled with two or more antennas 932, such as at the front and rear ofa vehicle, and the heading of the vehicle can be determined based uponthe difference of locations of the antennas.

In another embodiment, a remote sensing system (e.g., remote positiondetermining component 750) can determine the geographic position of thevehicle carrying vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 when query replies arereceived from entity identifier 711. For example, remote positiondetermining component 750 can comprise an optical total station which isconfigured to determine its geographic position, an azimuth to thevehicle carrying vehicle mounted sensor unit 730, and a range to thevehicle using a laser range finder.

By knowing and/or determining the spatial relationship between autilized position determining component (750, 812, etc.) and the RFIDtransceiver 810 in vehicle mounted sensor unit 730, the position of themounted sensor unit 730 can be determined. Based on the positions ofmounted sensor unit 730 at multiple different sensing locations, theposition of entity 710 can be derived based upon query replies receivedby RFID transceiver 810. In a similar fashion, when other sensingtechnologies such as barcode scanners, NFC transceivers, or biometricscanners are additionally or alternatively utilized, the position of themounted sensor unit 730 can be similarly be determined. Similartechniques can be utilized for determining the position of an entity 710based on replies received or entity identifiers that are identified whenother sensing technologies such as barcode scanners, NFC transceivers,or biometric scanners are additionally or alternatively utilized.

In FIG. 10, as vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 is conveyed along path1090 it periodically generates RFID queries in order to poll RFD tagswhich may be in range. As discussed above, in one embodiment, two ormore antennas are multiplexed with RFID transceiver 810 so that at afirst interval antenna 811A is energized and at a second intervalantenna 811B is energized. With respect to FIG. 10 and path 1090, forpurposes of example, antenna 811A is disposed such that it radiatesleftward with respect to path 1090 while antenna 811B is disposed suchthat it radiates rightward with respect to path 1090; and only radiationof antenna 811A is illustrated.

As shown in FIG. 10, at time T₁, RFID transceiver 810 detects a queryreply from entity identifier 711. Again, when the query reply isreceived at time T₁, a timestamp is appended to the information sent byentity identifier 711 as well as an identification of which antenna(e.g., antenna 811A) received the query reply. At a second time intervalT₃, RFID transceiver 810 receives another query reply from entityidentifier 711. This information, as well as the geographic position ofvehicle mounted sensor unit 730 at that time, as well as the directionin which the vehicle is moving, is sent to processor 813. Again, theinformation conveyed in the query reply is appended with a timestamp andan identification of the antenna which received the query reply (e.g.,antenna 811A). This information, as well as the geographic position ofvehicle mounted sensor unit 730 at that time, as well as the directionin which the vehicle is moving, is sent to processor 813. In accordancewith one embodiment, processor 813 can use this information to determinethe geographic position of entity 710 by triangulation. In oneembodiment, processor 813 is used to determine the geographic positionof entity 710 based upon this data and the known spatial relationshipbetween RFID transceiver 810 and GNSS receiver 812 (e.g., that they areco-located or that they are located a known distance and orientationapart from one another). Alternatively, the spatial relationship betweenthe GNSS receiver located with remote position determining component 750and the RFID transceiver 810 disposed with vehicle mounted sensor unit730 can be determined and used to determine the geographic position ofentity 710. Alternatively, remote position determining component 750 maymonitor the vehicle carrying vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 and duringlater processing the geographic position of vehicle mounted sensor unit730 can be derived at the moment it receives a query response fromentity identifier 711.

As discussed above, the effective radiated power of the antenna whichreceived the query reply can be used in further refining thedetermination of the geographic position of entity 710. For example, ifantenna 811A has an effective radiated power of 30 dBm when a queryreply is received from entity identifier 711, and the known maximumreception range at that power is 30 meters, it can be deduced thatentity 710 is within 30 meters of vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 atboth time T₁ and T₃. It can also be seen that at any time less that T1or greater than T3, entity identifier 711 was not detectable at thismaximum reception range of vehicle mounted sensor unit 730. Thus, in oneembodiment detection at times T₁ and T₃ represent first and lastdetections of entity identifier 711 at the maximum transmitting power ofvehicle mounted sensor unit 730. Using this information furtherfacilitates determining the geographic position of entity 710.Additionally, vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 can selectively modulatethe effective radiated power of antenna 811A in response to receiving aquery reply from entity identifier 711 as described above with referenceto handheld sensor unit 720. Thus, at time T₂, RFID transceiver haslowered the effective radiating power of antenna 811A to, for example,10 dBm and is not able to detect a query reply from entity identifier711. Assuming that it is known that at 10 dBm RFID transceiver has aneffective range of approximately 10 meters, it can be deduced that attime T₂, entity 710 was at least more than 10 meters away from vehiclemounted sensor unit 730, but within 30 meters of vehicle mounted sensorunit at times T₁ and T₃. Also, as described above with reference tohandheld sensor unit 720, RFID transceiver 810 can increase itseffective radiated power until it again receives a query reply fromentity identifier 711 to further refine the resolution of the geographicposition of entity 710. Although power modulation is shown only at theposition on path 1090 that is represented by time T₃, it is appreciatedthat power modulation may also be utilized at the positions marked by T₁and T₂ and/or at other positions along path 1090 in order to better ormore quickly resolve the location of entity identifier 711.

In accordance with various embodiments, vehicle mounted sensor unit 730can determine the geographic position of entity 710 independently, orsend data to tracking data receiver 110 or multi-modal entity tracker140 for further processing. The position may be determined by techniquessuch as triangulation and interpolation (based upon regions where entityidentifier has been detected or is known not to have been detected).Additionally, data Can be sent from remote position determiningcomponent 750 to facilitate determining the geographic position ofentity 710. Referring again to FIG. 7, in one embodiment, a map 740 isgenerated based upon data from handheld sensor unit 720 and/or vehiclemounted sensor unit 730. For example, a map with an overlay of thelocations of detected entities 710 can be generated. While FIG. 7 showsmap 740 being generated by multi-modal entity tracker 140, in anotherembodiment, map 740 can be a display upon, for example, display device817 of FIG. 8 and/or 618 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIG. 12A, a map 740-1 showing a plurality of paths(e.g., 1210, 1220, and 1230) followed by a vehicle traversing equipmentstorage yard 700 carrying vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 is shown. Alsoshown in FIG. 12A are swaths (e.g., 1211, 1221, and 1231) showing thecoverage area of RFID transceiver 810 as the vehicle moved along paths1210, 1220, and 1230 respectively. In other words, swaths 1211, 1221,and 1231 show the range of RFID transceiver 810 to both sides of thevehicle based upon the effective radiated power provided to the antennascoupled with it. As discussed above, the effective radiated poweraffects the range at which RFID transceiver 810 can detect an RFID tagsuch as entity identifier 711. As shown in FIG. 12A, there are gaps inthe coverage areas such as gap 1225 and 1235. This can be due to avariety of factors, but shows that there may be tracked entities withinthese areas which are not detectable by vehicle mounted sensor unit 730.This may indicate the necessity for an operator to be sent to theseregion with a handheld sensor unit 720 to search for entities which maynot otherwise show up. Also shown in FIG. 12A is a region 1236 in whichthe effective radiating power to one of antennas 811A or 811B has beenreduced. This may be in response to having received a query responsefrom an entity identifier 711 (not shown). In accordance with variousembodiments, map 740-1 can show all of the swaths of all vehicles whichhave traversed equipment storage yard 700 within a given time frame. Forexample, all of the vehicles which have traversed equipment storage yard700 in the past week can be shown. In one embodiment, various timeperiods can be color coded to show coverage areas on a given day. Thus,the swath(s) from Monday (e.g., 1211) can be color coded green, theswath(s) from Tuesday (e.g., swaths 1221 and 1231) can be color codedyellow, etc. These can all be overlaid to show which areas have not beencovered in the last week. Again, this facilitates dispatching either avehicle mounted sensor unit 730 or handheld sensor unit 720 to areaswhich may not have been polled for tracked entities within the last weekto generate a more complete understanding of what tracked entities arepresent and their location.

FIG. 12B illustrates a map 740-2 showing a plurality of paths (e.g.,1210, 1220, and 1230) followed by a vehicle traversing equipment storageyard 700 carrying vehicle mounted sensor unit 730 is shown. along withthe locations of entities 710 (710-1, 710-2, 710-3, 710-4, etc.) thatare associated with detected entity identifiers 711.

FIG. 13 illustrates a pipeline 1300. Pipeline 1300 includes pipesections 1301 (1301-1, 1301-2, 1301-3). Each pipe section includes arespective flange 1302 or joint where it joins with another pipe sectionin pipeline 1300. For example, pipe section 1301-1 includes pipe flange1302-1, pipe section 1301-2 includes pipe flange 1302-2, and pipesection 1301-3 includes flange 1302-3. As can be seen in FIG. 13, entityidentifiers 711 are located near the respective flanges (entityidentifier 711-1 near flange 1302-1, entity identifier 711-2 near flange1302-2, and entity identifier 711-3 near flange 1302-3).

FIG. 14 shows an example map 740-3 generated in accordance with variousembodiments. As depicted in FIG. 14, a vehicle mounted sensor unit 730has been taken along path 1490 along pipeline 1300 and has detected andlocated entity identifiers 711-1, 711-2, and 711-3, which correspond toand depict the location(s) of installed pipeline components (which maybe above ground or buried). In a similar manner, entity identifiers 711can be left on building components after they are emplaced at aconstruction site and/or after they have been used in construction of abuilding. For example, entity identifiers may be left upon emplaced onone or more of a variety of components including, but not limited to:conduit, reinforcement bar, joists, beams, studs, electrical fittings,electrical enclosures, and plumbing fittings.

Referring again to FIGS. 13 and 14, in this manner, if an entityidentifier 711 is placed at each joint of pipe segments comprising apipeline, the location of the pipeline can also be recorded as it isinstalled using, for example, handheld sensor unit 720 to record thegeographic position of each entity identifier 711 as the pipeline islaid. Additionally, at a later time after the pipeline has been laid, itcan be detected using, for example, a vehicle mounted sensor unit 730which can drive in the vicinity of the pipeline and detect the entityidentifiers 730 as it passes by. In a similar fashion other locations ofother types of emplaced components can be recorded during theiremplacement. Also, the map 740-3 can show the current state completionof a project or the states of completion of a project over time byoverlaying/combining results from more than one instance of entityidentification. In accordance with various embodiments, map 740 can showa 2-D map of the installed components, a 2-D map with the addition oftime, a 3-D map, a 3-D map with the addition of time, or other displays.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a method for tracking an entity in accordancewith various embodiments. In operation 1110, a plurality of messages isreceived conveying an identification of an entity using a wirelessidentification component (e.g., RFID transceiver 810 of FIG. 8) of asensor unit. As discussed above, in various embodiments, RFIDtransceiver 810 receives query replies from entity identifier 711. Asdescribed above, entity identifier 711 can utilize a variety of wirelesstechnologies to convey the identity of entity 710, and otherinformation, to RFID transceiver 810. In one embodiment, sensor unit 800receives a first query reply at a first location (e.g., T₁ of FIG. 10)and a second query reply at a second location (e.g., T₃ of FIG. 10). Inanother embodiment, a plurality of query replies can be received by asensor unit 800 while it is at the same location.

In operation 1120 of FIG. 11, a geographic location of the wirelessidentification component is determined by a position determiningcomponent (e.g., GNSS receiver 812 of FIG. 8) of the sensor unit whereinthe geographic location describes a respective geographic location ofthe wireless identification component when each of the plurality ofmessages is received. As described above, when a query reply from entityidentifier 711 is received, a timestamp is generated (e.g., by GNSSreceiver 812 or processor 813) and is appended with the query reply.Also, GNSS receiver 812 determines the geographic location of sensorunit 800 (e.g., handheld sensor unit 720, or vehicle mounted sensor unit730) and appends that information with query reply. This facilitatesdetermining the geographic position of entity 710. In anotherembodiment, remote position determining component 750 of FIG. 7 isconfigured to generate a geographic location of sensor unit 800 when aquery reply is received from entity identifier 711. Remote positiondetermining component 750 then determines an angular measurement anddistance to sensor unit 800 which will facilitate determining thegeographic position of entity 710. In other words data points arecollected when query replies from entity identifier 711 are received atRFID transceiver 810 which are used to determine the geographic positionof entity 710.

In operation 1130 of FIG. 11, a geographic position of the entity isdetermined based upon a known spatial relationship between the positiondetermining component and the wireless identification component. Asdescribed above, in one embodiment, RFID transceiver 810 and GNSSreceiver 812 are co-located in the same sensor unit (e.g., handheldsensor unit 720, or vehicle mounted sensor unit 730). In anotherembodiment, remote position determining component 750 monitors theposition of sensor unit 800 from a distance. In accordance with variousembodiments, based upon the known spatial relationship between theposition determining component being used (e.g., remote positiondetermining component 750 or GNSS receiver 812) and RFID transceiver810, the geographic position of entity 710 can be determined. Inaccordance with various embodiments, the determination of the geographicposition of entity 710 can be facilitated by determining the orientationof the antenna coupled with RFID transceiver 810. As discussed above,the radiation pattern emanating from antennas 811A and 811B can exhibita main lobe. If the axis of this main lobe is known, knowledge of thedirection in which this main lobe is pointed when a query reply isreceived from entity identifier 711 can be used to further refinedetermining the geographic position of entity 710. Additionally, in oneembodiment, the effective radiating power of antennas 811A and/or 811Bcan be selectively modulated to determine a minimum distance of entityidentifier 711 from sensor unit 800. As described above, in one or moreembodiments, a plurality of antennas (e.g., 811A and 811B of FIG. 8) canbe coupled with RFID transceiver 810 and their signals multiplexed. Inone embodiment, when one of antennas 811A or 811B receives a query replyfrom entity identifier 711, the antenna which received the query replyis identified and this information is appended to the data conveyed inthe query reply. Again, this can facilitate determining the geographicposition of entity 710.

In accordance with various embodiments, a map (e.g., map 740) can begenerated which shows the geographic position of entity 710.Additionally, map 740 can show the location of an installed component asdiscussed with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. In various embodiments, thegenerated map 740 can include a static 2-D map, a 2-D map with the addeddimension of time, a static 3-D map, a 3-D map with the added dimensionof time, etc. Additionally, with reference to FIG. 12A, map 740 candisplay areas which are not covered by RFID transceiver 810 (e.g., areas1225 and 1235 of FIG. 12A). In various embodiments, a generated map 740is displayed or provided to a device which may display it.

Although the example use of RFID technology has been used for purposesof description, it is appreciated that other sensing technologies may beused in place of or in combination with RFID sensing technology forentity location and mapping. For example, a combination of RFID sensingand barcode scanning technologies may be used to locate and map entitiesin the manner described herein, likewise a combination of RFID and NFCtechnologies may be utilized to perform locate and map entities,likewise a combination of RFID and biometric technologies may be used tolocate and map entities, likewise a combination of barcode and NFCtechnologies may be used to locate and map entities. Moreover, severaltechnologies may be used together to locate and map entities in themanner described herein; for example: RFID, NFC, barcode, biometrictechnologies other technologies described herein may all be utilized tolocate and map entities, and the technologies may be used at separatetimes or in conjunction with one another. That is, all or somecombination of technologies may be present in a common sensor unit(e.g., handheld sensor unit 720, or vehicle mounted sensor unit 730)used during a sensing pass or sensing activity and/or single or subsetsof the technologies may be present in a in a common sensor unit (e.g.,handheld sensor unit 720, or vehicle mounted sensor unit 730) and a mapmay be generated by utilizing data acquired during multiple sensingpasses or sensing activities using different technologies for sensingentity identifiers.

Embodiments of the present technology are thus described. While thepresent technology has been described in particular embodiments, itshould be appreciated that the present technology should not beconstrued as limited to these embodiments alone, but rather construedaccording to the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An entity tracking system comprising: a wirelessidentification component configured to receive a plurality of messagesconveying an identification of an entity; a position determiningcomponent configured to determine a plurality of correspondinggeographic locations of the wireless identification component, whereineach of the plurality of corresponding geographic locations being arespective geographic location of the wireless identification componentwhen each of the plurality of messages is received; and a processorconfigured to: determine a plurality of corresponding geographicpositions of the entity based on the plurality of correspondinggeographic locations of the wireless identification component and aknown spatial relationship defining a distance and orientation betweenthe position determining component and the wireless identificationcomponent, wherein each of the plurality of corresponding geographicpositions of the entity being a respective geographic position of theentity when each of the plurality of messages is received; and detect achange in geographic position of the entity based on the plurality ofcorresponding geographic positions of the entity.
 2. The entity trackingsystem of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured todetermine that the entity is being stolen based on the detected changein geographic position of the entity.
 3. The entity tracking system ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to generate anotification in response to detecting the change in geographic positionof the entity.
 4. The entity tracking system of claim 1, wherein theentity has an active RFID tag attached thereon and configured totransmit the plurality of messages.
 5. The entity tracking system ofclaim 1, wherein the wireless identification component implements aBluetooth standard.
 6. The entity tracking system of claim 1, whereinthe entity has a motion sensor attached thereon for sensing motionevents of the entity, and the plurality of messages convey the motionevents of the entity, and wherein the processor is configured to reportthe motion events of the entity.
 7. The entity tracking system of claim1, wherein: the wireless identification component is further configuredto receive a second plurality of messages conveying an identification ofa second entity; and the processor is further configured to determine aco-movement of the entity and the second entity based on the detectedchange in geographic position of the entity and the second plurality ofmessages.
 8. A method for tracking and protecting an entity, the methodcomprising: receiving a plurality of messages conveying anidentification of an entity using a wireless identification component ofa sensor unit; determining, using a position determining component ofthe sensor unit, a plurality of corresponding geographic locations ofthe wireless identification component, wherein each of the plurality ofcorresponding geographic locations being a respective geographiclocation of the wireless identification component when each of theplurality of messages is received; and determining a plurality ofcorresponding geographic positions of the entity based on the pluralityof corresponding geographic locations of the wireless identificationcomponent and a known spatial relationship defining a distance andorientation between the position determining component and the wirelessidentification component, wherein each of the plurality of correspondinggeographic positions of the entity being a respective geographicposition of the entity when each of the plurality of messages isreceived; and detecting a change in geographic position of the entitybased on the plurality of corresponding geographic positions of theentity.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine that the entity is being stolen based on thedetected change in geographic position of the entity.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to generate anotification in response to detecting the change in geographic positionof the entity.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the entity has anactive RFID tag attached thereon and configured to transmit theplurality of messages.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the wirelessidentification component implements a Bluetooth standard.
 13. The methodof claim 8, wherein the entity has a motion sensor attached thereon forsensing motion events of the entity, and the plurality of messagesconvey the motion events of the entity, and wherein the processor isconfigured to report the motion events of the entity.
 14. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: receiving a second plurality of messagesconveying an identification of a second entity using the wirelessidentification component of the sensor unit; and determining aco-movement of the entity and the second entity based on the detectedchange in geographic position of the entity and the second plurality ofmessages.
 15. An entity tracking system comprising: a wirelessidentification component configured to receive a plurality of messagesconveying an identification of an entity; a position determiningcomponent configured to determine a plurality of correspondinggeographic locations of the wireless identification component, whereineach of the plurality of corresponding geographic locations being arespective geographic location of the wireless identification componentwhen each of the plurality of messages is received; and a processorconfigured to: determine a plurality of corresponding geographicpositions of the entity based on the plurality of correspondinggeographic locations of the wireless identification component and aknown spatial relationship defining a distance and orientation betweenthe position determining component and the wireless identificationcomponent, wherein each of the plurality of corresponding geographicpositions of the entity being a respective geographic position of theentity when each of the plurality of messages is received; and detect anincrease in distance between the entity and the wireless identificationcomponent based on the plurality of corresponding geographic positionsof the entity and the plurality of corresponding geographic locations ofthe wireless identification component.
 16. The entity tracking system ofclaim 15, wherein the wireless identification component resides in amobile device.
 17. The entity tracking system of claim 15, wherein theprocessor is further configured to generate a notification in responseto the detected increase in distance between the entity and the wirelessidentification component.
 18. The entity tracking system of claim 15,wherein the entity has an active RFID tag attached thereon andconfigured to transmit the plurality of messages.
 19. The entitytracking system of claim 15, wherein the wireless identificationcomponent implements a Bluetooth standard.
 20. The entity trackingsystem of claim 15, wherein the entity has a motion sensor attachedthereon for sensing motion events of the entity, and the plurality ofmessages convey the motion events of the entity, and wherein theprocessor is further configured to report the motion events of theentity.